School assignment is the thorn that sticks every parent as their first contact with the San Francisco Unified School District.  The current system confuses some, is daunting to others, and down right painful to those 1800 families who don’t get any of their seven choices of school assignment.  There must be a better way.  The system was constructed, patched and re-patched as court decisions moved the district one way and bared others.  Now free of court restraint, the district is attempting to craft a system that will meet the educational needs of its students and the demands of parents for proximity and equity.  In this discussion, four candidates for school board view school assignment; Barbara Lopez, Marigrace Cohen, Omar Kharif and Jaynry Mak.